Is this forum dead now?

[TonyTheTiger20]

Ads every 2 posts, takes two clicks to navigate anywhere, overrun with spam bots, unusable interface... is there another forum out there anyone knows about?

[thirdtime's . . .]

Since this question is coming from you, the top of our food chain, the answer has to be yes. This new forum is a classic case of "if it's not broke, break it."

[ARM]

The forum format is ugly; no argument there.

The bigger problem for me is that there has been a steady decline in activity here from 15 or so years ago. Arguing with the UMD fans was once a full-time job. Throw in Covid, and the fact that there is little hockey to discuss, and I think we'd be on life support even if we had a Mercedes Benz caliber forum platform.

[thirdtime's . . .]

P.S. I should have said "the co-top."

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

We have kidded around with the "17" posters shtick that the Whioux poster came up with but these days, it seems like we can't even get 10 posters on here.

Sure, the forum stinks, but the bigger issue is sports, in general, just suck right now. WCH has limited participation...The games seem like nothing more than scrimmages and the schedule is this open ended "we'll see how things go down the road." I understand that it's the way it has to be but it makes me very apathetic about participating as a fan. Like I'm contemplating things I can do tonight instead of watching the UM/UW scrimmage.

[mikahawkins1]

I think its long dead.

[Timothy A]

I read somewhere that they had to update the forum because the Vbulletin people had obsoleted the old system, so USCHO had to change. I have got used to it, but it's not as dynamic or user friendly. I come here for the people, not the system.

[Deanyoungblood1986]

Lol the internet in general is out of control. Spam bots, 10,000 ads on every page it's maddening. Elite prospects is so out of control I refuse to go there anymore. Does nothing but freeze up my laptop.

[Lindsay]

You guys are worrying me with this dead forum stuff. I think this is just such an odd season, but hopefully we’ll all be back eventually. I’ve always hoped NW would get a message board up and running on their site, maybe one day.

[Ed Trefzger]

I've been less than happy with vBulletin 5 but we probably don't have the time resources to do a migration to another platform during this season, although I'm investigating some options. The problem is that any migration or upgrade takes hours and hours because of how many posts we have. It took something like 18 hours with the move from vBulletin 4 to 5. One I'm looking at that seems to perform much better is XenForo. None of us at USCHO is anywhere close to a full-time employee, so time definitely is an issue.

As far as spam, our primary moderator has taken seriously ill and has been hospitalized for a week, so spam hasn't been addressed. I just logged in as the mysterious Board and cleaned some up. I'll try to keep on top of it in the interim.

About the ads: we're trying to make up for some lost revenue. The pandemic lost our main site our two biggest months last season – essentially about 40% of our annual cashflow – and we're off to a slow start this year.

If anyone wants to reach me directly, you can email me at USCHO at ed.trefzger@uscho.com

[Timothy A]

I've been less than happy with vBulletin 5 but we probably don't have the time resources to do a migration to another platform during this season, although I'm investigating some options. The problem is that any migration or upgrade takes hours and hours because of how many posts we have. It took something like 18 hours with the move from vBulletin 4 to 5. One I'm looking at that seems to perform much better is XenForo. None of us at USCHO is anywhere close to a full-time employee, so time definitely is an issue.

As far as spam, our primary moderator has taken seriously ill and has been hospitalized for a week, so spam hasn't been addressed. I just logged in as the mysterious Board and cleaned some up. I'll try to keep on top of it in the interim.

About the ads: we're trying to make up for some lost revenue. The pandemic lost our main site our two biggest months last season – essentially about 40% of our annual cashflow – and we're off to a slow start this year.

If anyone wants to reach me directly, you can email me at USCHO at ed.trefzger@uscho.com

We all really appreciate your response, I love the insight. I am just happy to be able to chat with people who love a niche sport like I do (especially the women's side of the ledger). When I found this site in 2003 I was out of my mind happy. I do believe I discovered it from an ad in a magazine of all things. Hopefully people read this and stay loyal to the site, especially knowing there are no full time employees and a budget of zero, I know I will. If this site went away, part of me would die.

[TonyTheTiger20]

We all really appreciate your response, I love the insight. I am just happy to be able to chat with people who love a niche sport like I do (especially the women's side of the ledger). When I found this site in 2003 I was out of my mind happy. I do believe I discovered it from an ad in a magazine of all things. Hopefully people read this and stay loyal to the site, especially knowing there are no full time employees and a budget of zero, I know I will. If this site went away, part of me would die.

Ditto, I complain but I do appreciate the reply

[GTOWN]

Ditto, I complain but I do appreciate the reply

Double Ditto. We all know this is an odd season. I know I'll just take it for what it is and keep going. This forum provides a nice environment for women's hockey and it would leave a gap if it disappeared. Not dead, just waiting for the vaccine like the rest of us!

[Leather helmet]

I recall something from my Statistics 1001 class, a phenomenon known as "Regression to the Original 17". I think that is what happened here. Like my 16 cohorts, I appreciate a forum that is dedicated to this nichest of all niche sports, and I especially appreciate the only place on earth where Badgers and Gophers can occasionally say nice things to each other.

[ARM]

After watching "60 Minutes" last night and learning that men's D-I gymnastics is down to something like 15 programs (okay, so maybe I didn't learn it very well), I now understand that women's hockey is virtually a mainstream sport by comparison.

I hope that the other 16 women's college hockey fans here are being safe, because we obviously can't afford to lose anyone to Covid.